A Puzzle by Meles
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The puzzle is available by clicking on the above grid.
Meles is a fairly regular setter in this spot and his puzzles are invariably clever and entertaining. This was no exception so thanks to him.
Across
1a Mysterious person with innate skills is after retiring agent, me and you! (12)
SUPERNATURAL: A description of someone to which a skill comes easily follows the usual abbreviated agent and a first person pronoun reversed.
9a Wandering off endangers all the fairy tale characters (6,3,6)
HANSEL AND GRETEL: ENDANGERS ALL THE* (wandering off)
10a Scoundrel has Burgundy, maybe gallons, flowing westwards (5)
ROGUE: A wine (burgundy perhaps) with the abbreviation for Gallons moved one place to the West. I'm not sure if flowing westwards is a valid indicator here but I could be wrong.
12a Sent out to cover Editor's letter, as is necessary (5,4)
NEEDS MUST: SENT* containing ed’s and a Greek letter
13a Grave message has landlady rejecting outsiders, resulting in comebacks (8)
RIPOSTES: The usual message one sees on a gravestone followed by a landlady with the outside letters removed
14a Run out by slip (5)
LAPSE: Double definition. I can see why the setter has used “by” here but to me it spoils the DD.
16a I flap horribly making rice dish (5)
PILAF: I FLAP* (horribly)
17a Take advantage of money and help farm worker (8)
MILKMAID: A synonym of take advantage of, a single-letter abbreviation for money and a synonym of help
20a Home time, managed to settle on the way (2,7)
IN TRANSIT: A charade of the usual home, the abbreviation for Time, a synonym of managed and a verb meaning settle
22a Make engine's opening right for spinning part (5)
ROTOR: The first letter of an engine replaced by the abbreviation for Right
23a Officer's choice to abandon ship is a political event (7,8)
GENERAL ELECTION: Put together a military officer (don't forget the possessive S) and a synonym of choice then remove the usual abbreviated ship.
25a Dish from hotel requires a wad of dollars - but nothing cooked! (7,5)
WALDORF SALAD: A WAD OF D(o)LLARS* (cooked/but nothing).
Down
1d It's round this place, by the banks of swamp (6)
SPHERE: An adverb meaning this place follows the outer letters of SwamP
2d Find fault with move to follow God (3)
PAN: A very smart triple definition, the first two being verbs.
3d Fluently recited very loud poem, getting sideways look sent back (6,3)
REELED OFF: The musical symbol for very loud, a poem or verse and a sly look all reversed (sent back)
4d Piece of propaganda gains traction in opposition (7)
AGAINST: Hidden (piece of).
5d Remove outfit of deranged nerds infiltrating America (7)
UNDRESS: NERDS* inserted into US.
6d People with smarts picked up lots of land (5)
ACRES: A homophone (picked up) of how one may whimsically describe people with smarts in the sense of pain.
7d Influenced by a piece - poignant and thus oddly moving (2,8)
AT GUNPOINT: POIGNANT plus ThUs* (moving/oddly). Very nice
8d Small bet that indicates failure of heart? (7)
FLUTTER: Double/cryptic definition
11d See parting remorse in face of exiled killing machine (10)
GUILLOTINE: A two-letter literary “see” inserted into a synonym of remorse plus IN from the clue and the initial letter of Exiled.
14d Fruit stacks in sets of five lines (9)
LIMERICKS: A citrus fruit and a synonym of stacks (of hay perhaps)
15d Elastic band stolen by someone hoping to go undetected (7)
SPRINGY: A band inserted into (stolen by) an undercover agent
17d Forced key Civil Service union member to return (7)
MUSCLED: A (laptop perhaps) key, and abbreviations for Civil Service, Union and Member all reversed.
18d More wee as brood left inside (7)
LITTLER: A synonym of brood as a noun into which is inserted the abbreviation for Left. Very amusing and smart
19d Pressed De Niro to act (6)
IRONED: DE NIRO* (to act)
21d Central courts overturning some unfair tariffs (5)
ATRIA: Hidden and reversed (overturning some)
24d Charged out of bed, it's bad (3)
ILL: A synonym of charged in a financial sense with the letters that spell out BED removed
A very enjoyable lunchtime diversion – many thanks to Meles.
I have lots of ticks on my printout including 10a, 17a, 2d, 4d and 11d.
As usual, this setter has provided us with an excellent puzzle which was great fun to solve.
Although the surfaces were generally smooth, I can’t make sense at all of the reading of 6d. Also is “by” in 14a serving any function or is it simply surface padding?
I was very surprised that the BRB doesn’t include U as a stand-alone abbreviation for “union”, or do I need to go to Specsavers?
I had a plethora of ticks on my page but will just give a special mention to 2d for its superb triple definition.
Many thanks to Meles.
U for union isn’t in the BRB but it is in Collins which defines the union as ‘maths’.
Ah, yes. Thanks, Gazza.
Mathematical Set Theory – long forgotten since my university days.
Thanks Meles for a very pleasant start to my Saturday.
Smiles for 13a, 14a, 20a, 8d, 14d, and 21d.
Thanks again and thanks in advance to Stephen L.
Enjoyable puzzle with a couple of bits of parsing that I’m not sure about so I’ll look forward to learning more from Stephen’s review.
Top clues for me were 9,17&20a plus 2d.
Many thanks, Meles.
I know we shouldn’t really compare puzzles but I thought this beauty far superior to the SPP, which I also enjoyed. Ticks all over the shop – 9,10,13,17&25a along with 2,7,11,15&17d can organise themselves into a Top 10.
Thanks Meles – more like this please.
Started this long ago on my Saturday am, but had to abandon it.
Had a rather large black bear plow through my back fence with my Sheltie mouthing off at it from the back door area … that made it run for the exit point through my side fence and plow through that too. Then I had to go out to repair the damage in the p*ssing rain. Ended up soaked and needed shower and change of clothes.
This wasn’t the one, but was of similar size. We have a few in the area where we live
Heavens – to think I reckon a mangy fox in the garden exciting
Enjoyed that very much. Thanks Meles.
An enjoyable Sunday morning solve for us. 14d held us up for some time (7d perhaps?) so gets our vote for favourite.
Thanks Meles.
Most enjoyable. Thanks, Meles and StephenL.
Thank you Meles, very enjoyable. Forgot to comment yesterday! Last in 14d and 17d. Lots of favourites but will go for 25a. We look forward to your next one soon. Thanks also to StephenL.
Many thanks for the review, Stephen, which confirmed my parsing – must just be that I wasn’t convinced by a couple of the synonyms.
Thanks again to Meles for an enjoyable NTSPP.
Thanks to all who solved and commented, and especially to Stephen for the excellent review. Glad this one seems to have gone down well. Fair comments on 14d – I couldn’t resist the surface but probably should have! Thanks again until next time.
Apologies for the tardiness of my comment, Meles.
This was a very enjoyable NTSPP, Meles.
I have many ticks on my printout. 10a, 13a, 17a, 23a and 25a are well up on my list, as are 2d, 15d and 24d. To these I’d like to add 14a and 7d, for which I needed StephenL’s help.
I found this puzzle quite tricky in places. The inclusion of ‘by’ threw me off scent in 14a. Alas! I didn’t get the subtlety of 6d — mea maxima culpa. 14a, 6d and 7d aside, I found the clues all flowed beautifully.
Many appreciative thanks to Meles for a very entertaining NTSPP and to StephenL for the excellent review.
A collection of NTSPPs awaited my return from holiday
Smiles aplenty in this puzzle from Meles, especially for 5d which I assume was inspired by the MAGA movement… Ticks went to 9a, 23a 2d, 5d, 6d, 7d & 14d. A question mark went to 10a, but StephenL has enlightened me on the wordplay I failed to spot.
My thanks to Meles and StephenL.